


Mistake

by storm_dog_pirate



Category: Nikolai Series - Leigh Bardugo, The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, College AU, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, because I'm trash ohoholasfhdlasf, because they need it more too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:46:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26769712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storm_dog_pirate/pseuds/storm_dog_pirate
Summary: The sweetest mistake Nikolai could have ever possibly done.
Relationships: Nikolai Lantsov/Zoya Nazyalensky
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	Mistake

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the prompt ‘Mistake’ from the Angstober/Softober list on Tumblr by @/wafflesandkruge. Please feel free to join anytime! <3

They said mistakes were made by the person itself. No one but them was the one to blame, and that nothing was ever an accident. 

Nikolai agreed to that; he wasn't going to lie. 

So he called it an ' _ unexpected circumstance _ ' instead. 

If he were to be asked, it wasn't as if it was his fault, anyway. He had been given the  _ wrong _ number. 

Whoever handled the contact information of the other council heads of the college department, Nikolai was sure they had messed it all up. Or it was just his eyes that messed up. 

He needed to meet with the Science Department student president, Kirigin , to talk about the collaboration plan of their departments in the upcoming University week, so he'd sent a message to him asking where the man would like to talk. 

There hadn't been any reply from Kirigin, even after a few hours and a series of texts later. It made him a bit anxious as he was running short on sleep and panicking over the deadlines of his papers, so he had sent another message to the man, hoping that he would finally reply. 

Kirigin had replied, though. Just not in the way Nikolai expected him to. 

_ Will you cut it out? What do you want? _ the message had said, and as much as he was the kind of person with patience, the lack of sleep contributed to the sudden irritation that sparked in him. 

Nikolai had sent a lot of  _ polite _ messages and voicemails asking him to meet in the supreme student council room, and this was the response he got? 

Something dark had taken over him and he just demanded Kirigin to come over where he was. 

_ Supreme student council room in five. Understand?  _

At that time, Nikolai hadn't really cared if he was acting like an ass. He was exhausted and irritated, and in definite need of another coffee.

A few minutes later, the door to the council room finally barged open, and whatever apology he had been running over in his mind for the past minute disappeared. 

Because the person wasn't Kirigin at all. 

"You ought to double check whose contact you have in your phone, _Lantsov_ ," Zoya Nazyalensky of the Law Department had spat, her blue eyes sharp with annoyance. 

Nikolai couldn't really remember what happened after that. All he knew was that Zoya had slapped a piece of paper on his chest, containing Kirigin's actual number that she got on her way there, and she had stomped off after giving him an earful on how he had disturbed he had disturbed her from studying her cases. It was a blur of their paths crossing again somehow after that as the meetings between the council heads had been more frequent that year. 

Though it involved them bickering and arguing good naturedly most of the time, Nikolai was sure he had fallen in love with the raven-haired storm somewhere in the middle. 

Which reminded him now, three years after that ‘unexpected circumstance’, as he was dialling Zoya’s number again. It kept on disconnecting for several times already and he was worried that she might have forgotten that he was coming to her office tonight. 

The call disconnected again, and he was about to give her another call when he heard her voice behind him.

“Nikolai?”

Nikolai turned around and saw Zoya, the usual furrow in her eyebrows very evident. He fought the urge to chuckle. She must have really forgotten. “Hey,” he said, jogging over to her. The cold night air was biting at his skin for a while now. “I told you I’m coming over, right? I got out much later than I'd expected from the university. Too many term papers due.”

Zoya’s frown deepened as she stared back at him. “When did you tell me that?”

“A few hours ago?” His expression now mirrored her frown. “I texted you.”

“You didn’t.” 

“I did.”

“You—” Zoya stopped. Then she closed her eyes and sighed exasperatedly. “Let me check your phone.”

Nikolai became confused, but still did what she said. She raised an eyebrow as she eyed the screen, and then huffed. “What?” he asked, becoming even more confused.

She held up the phone to his face. “This is not my number.”

“What? No—” He winced. Then, with a whine, he said, “Really?”

“It’s not, you idiot.” Zoya shook her head, laughing lightly. “I told you to put in my number after your phone got reset yesterday. You were too confident that you’ve already got it memorized. Look at you now, just like what happened when you thought I was Kirigin.”

Nikolai laughed at that, the irony of the situation coming back to him once again. “Well, if it weren’t for that  _ unexpected circumstance, _ ” he said, giving her a grin, “our paths wouldn’t have crossed, and you wouldn’t have been so in love with me.”

Zoya rolled her eyes, but there was a soft smile on her lips, and Nikolai knew that he was thankful for making that mistake three years ago. “Our paths crossing is because if your own idiocy, my dumb Kolya.” She linked her arm around his, his fingers intertwining with hers as he put them inside his coat’s pocket. “Let’s get out of here before you decide to text another random number again.”

They laughed softly together, walking down the sideroad and heading back home.

Who could’ve thought that a simple mistake had given him  _ this _ happiness? 


End file.
